I had a weird thought the other night.

I was pouring myself a glass of soda, and I caught myself watching the carbonation fizz away. It was so quick, you'd miss it if you weren't paying attention (or completely spaced out, like I was). One second it's there, silently sizzling and swimming on the surface of the glass, the next--gone. Just gone. Muted, vanquished, nonexistent.

It was pretty weird to think about that. How can something fade away so quickly? But then I started thinking. That's not nearly the only thing that can suddenly just not be there. It's scary once you start naming things off.

But there was one particular one that really shook me--our spirituality.

Our spirituality is an extremely fragile thing. If we slip up even a little, it can fizz out quicker than the carbonation of soda. It's crazy, it's frustrating, and it's not something that's easy to admit. In fact, it's so hard to actually agree with it. I struggled with it, because I didn't want it to be true. I wanted to write about something else, because I didn't agree with it. Our spirituality is so much stronger than the carbonation of soda, right?

But it stuck with me. I knew it was true, no matter how much I hated the idea. Because that includes my spirituality, too. And I battle with it and try to build it and keep it strong daily. I know for a fact, though, that no matter how hard I do try, and how much I do want my spirituality to be as good as it can be, if I slip up, in that moment, it's fizzed out.

That bothers me so much, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. To think that something I work so hard on and struggle with so much can just vanish...it's irritating me even as I type it out.

But, with every downside, there has to be an upside! Luckily, the Lord is always good and likes to give me the ups when I'm burdened by the downs.

I started thinking, once carbonation is gone, it's gone forever. There's no getting it back, really. But our spirituality doesn't work like that. No matter how often we slip up, the Holy Spirit will be waiting for us to come back. Even if it fades, we can rely on the One who gives us our spirituality and holiness to restore it. We can take comfort in that and build from there, and that's such an encouraging thought. Because God wants to help us out and do better and build and learn from our mistakes and slip-ups. Once we press on from there, healing and growth can begin.

I know this isn't really deep or mind-boggling (I'm not that much of a thinker, y'all...these random thoughts just kinda burst in my brain), but I think it's something we all need to hear. We'll always be able to climb back up from the cliff we fell off from, and we'll have the Great Encourager with us with every leap, step, or stumble we take.